CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — New and differing minimum wages in Chicago and parts of suburban Cook County, which take effect Friday, have one labor group encouraging workers to learn about the changes.
“Check your check,” said Laura Garza, a Worker Center Director with Arise Chicago.
Organizers with Arise Chicago said the outreach is important because — depending on where a worker is employed, how large their company is and other factors — minimum wage increases will look different to workers all over Cook County.
“It’s going to take a lot of education,” Garza said. “It’s a hot mess, to be honest with you, and there’s a lot of work that we need to do with our elected officials to change this … It’s confusing for some workers, and that’s why, unfortunately, some employers took advantage of the situation.”
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Organizer Jorge Mujica with Arise Chicago, which advocates for immigrant workers, said many are confused. The rate for small companies in the city is moving to $14.50 an hour; at larger companies, it’s $15.40.
“Sixteen different minimum wages in our metropolitan area and the state of Illinois,” Mujica said. “If you don’t know where you’re working, you don’t know what your minimum wage is.”
Tipped workers will see an increase — how much depends on the size of their company and whether they’re over the age of 18.
In suburban Cook County, the minimum wage will go up to $13.35 an hour in 18 municipalities, but dozens of others opted out.
Suburbs that opted into the minimum wage increases, Cook County Commissioner S. Mayumi Grigsby said, will see them go into effect Friday.
“The ordinance applies to hourly, salaried, and tipped employees over the age of 18 working in Cook County, and even those who may be working within the county making deliveries or driving within the county limits,” Grigsby said.
Isis Cuallo, who works as a home cleaner in Chicago and several Cook County suburbs, said through a translator that the increase is really important for single moms like her.
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“The past few years have been especially difficult with COVID, and now, with rising prices for gas, food, and bills,” Cuallo said.
She and other members of Arise Chicago — along with city and county officials — encouraged workers to check their paystubs and file complaints if they are not getting the proper increase.
Andy Fox, the Director of Labor Standards at the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, said his office received 93 complaints and secured over $1 million in restitution for workers in 2021.
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